Monday Soup

1 part broth, 1 part noodles, and 48 parts hurricane rain water…it’s Monday Soup!

+ As I type this on Monday morning, Hurricane Sandy has arrived. Rain wasn’t bad when I first woke up, but it has picked up significantly over the last few hours. The wind has been strong all morning, and is only going to get more intense throughout the day. Looks like the worst 12-hour window for us will be Monday evening through Tuesday morning.

Tonight I’ll probably sleep in the basement so I can wake up every few hours and check the window wells. When those suckers start filling up with water it starts running into the basement and down the walls (which are painted because the basement is finished). Not much fun, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

+ Community Wins launches tomorrow…and the secret surprise is that it’s going to launch as a free download for the Kindle! Shhh, don’t tell anyone yet. And don’t buy it today. Wait for tomorrow and get it free! (More coming on this…)

+ Was very surprised on Sunday morning to see the Thunder had traded James Harden to the Rockets. Got to admit, I’m excited at the prospect of seeing Harden in a starter’s role, especially in the backcourt with Jeremy Lin (when he gets healthy).

Would I be upset if I was a Thunder fan? I’m not sure. As a quasi-fan, I think I’m okay with it. If only because I trust Sam Presti, and I like it when management proactively makes decisions on personnel instead of waiting until the power is in the player’s hands. (see Howard, Dwight or Anthony, Carmelo).

I do understand that it hurts the Thunder’s chances of winning this season. Then again, you can only have five guys on the floor at a time, and the Durant-Westbrook-Harden trio was terrible defensively according to advanced metrics. Yes, it will be harder to get to the Finals without him. Yes, it will be harder to win the Finals without him. But do I think the Thunder can win a title without having Harden on the floor? Absolutely.

I think it will be 2-3 years before we can say whether or not this was a mistake. With a stacked Western Conference and a superstorm in LeBron’s Heat, the Thunder weren’t locks for anything this year. Let’s see how Martin and Lamb develop alongside the Thunder’s core. Let’s see if Perry Jones and/or Reggie Jackson develop into solid, 9-man rotation contributors. And let’s see what happens with that Raptors pick next year, you never know what Presti can pull of with two number ones up his sleeve.

Either way, an amazing NBA season just got a little more intriguing.

(My favorite two pieces on the trade are from Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo! and Zach Lowe at Grantland. Woj seems higher on what Sam Presti did than Lowe is, and gives a little more insight into the behind-the-scenes of the trade.)

+ Spent most of Friday and some of Saturday at the ALLUME Conference. Yes, that is a blogging conference for women. Yes, I am still a man.

Big thanks to Sarah Mae for letting me sneak in because I had a blast. Got to connect with a bunch of friends, got to meet a few blog readers, and got to meet (and hear from) Darren Rowse, who runs ProBlogger.net. I’ve always looked up to Darren, so it was a huge thrill to talk to him. Even snagged a pic with him.

+ I’ve enjoyed seeing that some of the folks in my tribe have been using KR Graphix for their digital needs recently. Kevin at KR does an amazing job of delivering great work AND being awesome to work with.

If you’ve been toying with the idea of hiring someone for some digital graphic work, do yourself a favor and check in with Kevin at KR Graphix. He’s got some deals going on now that are ONLY GOOD FOR OCTOBER, so you’ve got 3 days to jump in them. Here’s more info.

+ A quick NFL note: I am loving the way the playoff picture is starting to take shape. Still so much football to be played, but I think there are going to be some great races down the stretch for those last wild card spots. I might write more on this later in the week.

Let us know what’s new in your world in the comments.

Have a great week!